Dose THE SKIN I LIVE IN Have a Soul?

Phillip Lopate (ex-director of the New York International Film Festival and writer of the book Totally, Tenderly, Tragically, one of my sources of inspiration) wrote about Fassbinder's Despair as follows:

"It was a European Art Film, slickly shot, polished, with high production values-but no soul."

"The secret of Fassbinder's dramatic power had always been the underground sympathy he showed for his otherwise messed-up characters: but this time there was no sympathy, only chilly mannerism."

Almodovar's The Skin I Live In disappointed me for exactly what was listed above, and also for the following (although I was captivated by the ending):

1) The very presence of Spain, and the Latino spirit, which always play an integral part in Almodovar's movies, and which is one of the charms of his movies, is no longer there. The story could have happen elsewhere

2) The story is too plot-driven than character-driven, and in an Almodovar movie, i.e. such melodrama, we always expect a lot more from the psychology of the characters!

3) And again, for such melodrama, the emotion doesn't come out until the very end

4) And speaking of such pervert relationship between the hunter and the hunted, this is not entirely unique. Tanizaki Junichiro (writer) and Yasuzo Masumura (director who had adopted numerous Tanizaki novels) had done very good jobs on similar subject matters.